Awards & Honours

Civilian Awards | Param Vir Chakra |  Sports Awards  | Jnanpith Awards | Dada Saheb Phalke Awards | Other Awards

India's highest civilian award given for exceptional service towards the advancement of Art, Literature and Science, and in recognition of public service of the highest order. It was established by the President of India, in 2nd January 1954. The regulations were revised 8 January 1955 (to alter the design) and amended 26 January 1957 (to alter the depiction of the devices on the obverse and reverse). From 13 July 1977 to 26 January 1980, awards of the Bharat Ratna were suspended. 

The original specifications for the award called for a circular gold medal, 35 mm in diameter, with the sun and the Hindi legend "Bharat Ratna" above and a floral wreath below. The reverse was to carry the state emblem and motto. It was to be worn around the neck from a 2 inches white ribbon. There is no indication that any specimens of this design were ever produced and one year later the design was altered.

 C Rajagopalachari (1878-1972)

 1954

 Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975)

 1954

 Dr. C.V. Raman (1888-1970)

 1954

 Dr. Bhagwan Das (1869-1958)

 1955

 Dr. M. Visvesvaraya (1861-1962)

 1955

 Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)

 1955

 Govind Ballabh Pant (1887-1961)

 1957

 Dr. Dhondo Keshave Karve (1858-1962)

 1958

 Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy (1882-1962)

 1961

 Purushottam Das Tandon (1882-1962)

 1961

 Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1884-1963)

 1962

 Dr. Zakir Hussain (1897-1969)

 1963

 Dr. Pandurang Vaman Kane (1880-1972)

 1963

 Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904-1966) (Posthumous))

 1966

 Dr. Indira Gandhi (1917-1984)

 1971

 Varahagiri Venkatagiri (V.V. Giri) (1 884-1980)

 1975

 Kumaraswami Kamraj (1903-1975) (Posthumous)

 1976

 Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

 1980

 Acharya Vinobha Bhave (1895-1982)

 1983

 Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890-1988)

 1987

 Marudu Gopalan Ramachandran (1917-1987) (Posthumous)

 1988

 Dr. Bhim Rao Ramji (B.R) Ambedkar (1891-1956) (Posthumous)

 1990

 Dr. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918- )

 1990

 Rajiv Gandhi (1944-1991) (Posthumous)

 1991

 Sardar Vallabhai Patel (1875-1950)

 1991

 Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (1869-1995)

 1991

 Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958) (Posthumous)

 1992

 Jahangir Ratanji Dadabhai (J.R.D) Tata (1904-1993)

 1992

 Satyajit Ray (1922-1992)

 1992

 Aruna Asaf Ali (1909-1996) (Posthumous)

 1997

 Gulzari Lal Nanda (1898-1997) (Posthumous)

 1997

 Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (1931-)

 1997

 Madurai Shanmukhavadivu (M.S) Subbalakshmi (1916- )

 1998

 Chidambaram Subramaniam (1910-2000)

 1998

 Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan ( 1902-1979) (Posthumous)

 1999

 Professor Amartya Sen (1933- )

 1999

 Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi (1890-1950) (Posthumous)

 1999

 Pandit Ravi Shankar (1920-)

 1999

 Lata Mangeshkar (1929- )

 2001

 Bissmillah Khan (1916- )

 2001